Shiloh National Military Park

My first reaction ~ this is a huge place! I expected to see a smaller battlefield.

This is where the Union forces and the Confederates clashed, one of the “turning points" in the Civil War ~ a turning point because this battle demonstrated that the war would be prolonged and bitter, neither side willing to yield.

In total there were more than 100,000 troops engaged in this two day battle on April 6 and 7, 1862. If any side “won,” it may have been the Union forces who held the field. The Union forces did not pursue the retreating Confederates.

The whole place now is a park with canons here and there, and monuments put up by different States to honor those who gave their lives. Even though this is now a peaceful place, I felt somewhat uneasy because I knew that wherever I walked, most likely I was standing on ground that was once bloodied by the fallen soldiers. It must’ve been a horrific scene with different kinds of ammo and shrapnel flying in all directions, deafening canon roars, smoke, yelling, confusion, and screams of the wounded. I read that Union General William T. Sherman, commenting on Shiloh, said that it was so horrendous that it “would have cured anybody of war.”

After the battle, many of the dead were buried in trenches. Years later pigs were rooting up the remains, so farmers requested that the federal government do something about this problem. So, in 1894, the Shiloh National Military Park was established. It was named after the Shiloh Methodist Chapel that had been in the area.

At the Visitors' Center we saw an informative film about the battle that dated back to 1957. Think about that! This very dated film, in itself, was very interesting.

I came away from Shiloh thinking about the passions, convictions, and the political impasse that led to so many to sacrifice so much, both sides in this Civil War believing they were fighting for liberty.